Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Jimmie Johnson Kansas Price Chopper 400 Preview

RACE NOTES Kansas Speedway
  • Johnson has made eight Sprint Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway, where he has earned one win, two top-five and six top-10 finishes.
  • Johnson has completed 98.6% (2050 of 2079) of competition laps at the 1.5-mile oval and has led 304.
  • He has an average start of 5.6, his lowest average of all Sprint Cup Series tracks.
  • His average finish is 10.2.
Chassis
  • Johnson last piloted chassis No. 592 to a third-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in September.
  • Backup chassis No. 553 was driven to Victory Lane by Johnson at Auto Club Speedway in February.
QUOTES JIMMIE JOHNSON: TALK ABOUT GOING TO KANSAS: “For a mile-and-a-half, I think that Chicago and Kansas are pretty similar. In years past, mile-and-a-halfs have been our bread and butter and have been really good for us. And Kansas has a really cool transition in and off the corners where you can run second and third lane. It is pretty friendly and you can search around and try to find a line. The asphalt has aged pretty quick there too which has allowed us to run multiple lanes and move around. So in general, it is a track with options. For a mile-and-a-half race track, it has a lot of options and I have enjoyed racing there over the years and have been able to get a win there.”
CHAD KNAUS: CAN YOU SAY WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED AS FAR AS THE CHASE IN THE FIRST TWO RACES OR YOU DON’T LEARN ANYTHING TILL THE MILE-AND-A-HALFS? “I feel good about it. If you go back and look at our performance in Chicago, we qualified respectable. We led a good portion of that race. I think if you go back and you look at how we ran at Charlotte Motor Speedway, we ran very competitive there. We basically took ourselves out of both of those races.”
I think leading into that with Kansas being very similar to Chicago, looking forward to it. I think the performance we had in Atlanta was definitely a direction that you can see where we’re headed toward going into Charlotte Motor Speedway, Homestead, and definitely Fontana, we’re always excited to go there. We obviously won there in the spring. I think our big track stuff is pretty close. We’re excited about it. We know we’re never as good as what we want to be. We’re definitely going to be continuing to work on it, trying to improve our product, but I’m looking forward to it, definitely.”
SPRINT CUP SERIES CAREER NOTES Career Wins
  • Johnson has 53 wins in his Sprint Cup Series career, his most recent coming at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 26, 2010.
  • The El Cajon, Calif.-native is currently 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, one victory behind Lee Petty.
  • He is second in total wins among active drivers, behind Jeff Gordon (82).
  • Johnson needed only 296 starts to hit the 50 mark. Only three drivers have reached 50 victories quicker – Gordon (232), Darrell Waltrip (278) and David Pearson (293).
  • Johnson has won at least three Cup races a season since he posted his first victory in 2002. He is the only driver in the modern era to win at least three races in each of his first eight full-time seasons.
  • Johnson has won Sprint Cup Series races at all but four (Michigan, Chicago, Watkins Glen, Homestead) of the 22 tracks on which the series competes.
  • Johnson was the first driver to win three of the first five races in The Chase.
  • Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 was the highest number recorded in a single season since Jeff Gordon posted 13 victories in 1998.
  • The four-consecutive wins scored by the No. 48 team in the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup ties a modern-era NASCAR record.
Career Poles
  • Johnson has collected 25 poles in his Sprint Cup career.
  • The championship driver has earned at least one pole a year since his first full-time season in 2002.
  • He had a career-high six poles in 2008.
  • Johnson’s most recent pole position was at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 24, 2010.
Career Starts
  • In 28 2010 starts, Johnson has collected six wins, 11 top five and 15 top-10 finishes.
  • Johnson has finished in the top five in the Sprint Cup Series point standings each year since his first full season in 2002.
  • Johnson is the only driver to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004.
  • In 319 Sprint Cup Series starts, Johnson has posted 128 top-five and 195 top-10 finishes.
  • He has a top-five finish at every track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit.
  • Johnson has led a total of 10,955 laps (of 91,826) in his Sprint Cup career, covering over 122,979 miles.
  • He has finished on the lead lap 245 times.

Primary Car History – Chassis No. 592
DateEventStartFinish
05/30/2010Charlotte537
08/01/2010Pocono610
09/05/2010Atlanta73

Backup Car History – Chassis No. 553
DateEventStartFinish
07/26/2009Indy151
10/10/2009California31
11/22/2009Homestead15
02/21/2010California71
Race 3 of The Chase
Points ComingStartingFinishingPoints After
YearInto EventPositionPositionEvent
2004Talladega94329
2005Talladega42265
2006Kansas83148
2007Kansas4131
2008Kansas2111
2009Kansas21192
Jimmie Johnson – Kansas Speedway
RaceStartFinishLapsStatusLed
09/29/2002210266/267Running0
10/05/200317267/267Running20
10/10/2004432239/267Accident0
10/09/2005226267/267Running1
10/01/2006314267/267Running105
09/30/200713210/210Running1
09/28/200811267/267Running124
10/04/2009119267/267Running53

Jimmie Johnson – Year-by-Year Cup Statistics
YearStartsWinsTop 5Top 10PolesFinal
Points
20013000052
200236362145
2003363142022
2004368202312
2005364132215
2006365132411
20073610202441
2008367152261
2009367162441
2010*286111522
* to date

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